Court OK’s Firing of Pilot|Who Didn’t De-Ice Plane

(CN) – A federal judge in Dallas upheld the firing of a Southwest Airlines who failed to de-ice the wings of a plane before takeoff.

Pilot Janice McCall sued the airline and its pilots union, accusing Southwest of breaching a collective bargaining agreement and Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association of failing to fairly represent her wrongful firing lawsuit against the airline. McCall said Southwest should not have fired her because she had followed the flight operations manual before takeoff. But U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn said following the manual was not the real issue. At issue, Lynn said, was the fact that McCall had not de-iced the wings, which is required by federal aviation regulations when there’s frost, ice or snow. “McCall herself admitted in writing two days after the incident that she had seen snow on top of the fuselage, nose, and engine cowling, but that she had failed to ‘get a good look at the top of the wings from the ground,'” Lynn wrote. Judge Lynn concluded that “McCall’s admitted failure to follow the preflight exterior inspection requirements provides ‘just cause’ for Southwest to terminate her employment.” Lynn granted summary judgment to Southwest and the pilots union.